And you reduce the height so that it looks like from the outside that it's three stories on a residential block.
I don't see an issue with that.
Never heard back from that individual, but the community in general, they just don't want anything there.
And that's not reasonable under the circumstances.
And given the surrounding circumstances of like our roof line, you know, the height was the only issue that I heard about, as well as the fact that the unit count was an issue, which we addressed.
And the fact that we're providing off-street parking of 20 units for a property which does not require parking, and the fact that we're eliminating one of our variances, we're trying to eliminate the commercial component on a block which is residential in nature.
like all this makes sense that you know and given that at a certified meeting we had you know
community support you know we respectfully request that the zoning board grant this variance
any questions from the board no no
anyone else wish to testify in this matter please raise your hand
um so chair it's your call um i believe this is limited however i have like eight hands up
so how would you like me to proceed i do have mary jones from the council person's office
get miss jones on first please um chair this is sharon saletta i believe at the last hearing
there still had not been an RCO meeting, so if there are members of the community who wish to
testify, they should probably, at least in limited testimony, be permitted to do so.
Well, Ms. Saleta, I would actually respectfully disagree. There was a certified RCO meeting.
That's how we had the letter. I apologize for my misunderstanding.
Okay, good morning, this is Mary Jones, Council President Daryl Clark's office.
Are you swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Ms. Jones.
Please proceed.
Yes, so based on communication from the near neighbors who are concerned about the added
density and the height that remains still quite tall and the lack of hardship for this
project we do uh stand with the community with the near neighbors in their opposition um today
to this project
what was the results of the uh the rco meeting well it was i'm sorry was that directed to me
no no it's mr knockins i'm sorry yeah it was and i had the letter it's exhibit uh nine um it was
16 in favor nine against and four abstain thank you all right anyone else and please we uh limit
your testimony and if you get on please do not repeat what is already being said appreciate that
thank you here and before i call the next name could i please just put um out there to all
attending the q a is not a forum for testimony if you wish to speak in behalf of a case
you have to raise your hand and put it on record. People are providing testimony at the Q&A and
that's not allowed. If you have questions about scheduling or a case that should be heard and
it's not scheduled or something of that nature, you can use that Q&A. Thank you kindly. I'm calling
next Teresa. Teresa, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in. Okay, can you hear me?
Yes, please identify yourself, first and last name, spell your name, and you give us your address, please.
My name is Teresa Hoberg, T-E-R-E-S-A, Hoberg, H-O-B as in boy, E-R-G as in girl, and I live at 2416 Perot Street.
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. And where do you live in proximity to this application?
Um, well, I guess I'm at the other end of the neighborhood.
um well i guess i'm at the other end of the neighborhood
Perot Street is just a half a block above Fairmount Avenue.
So I guess that, I don't know how many blocks south that would be.
Yeah, Mr. Chair, I actually live in Fairmount myself.
You know, the difference between Fairmount and where Poplar is, it's at least five blocks.
Yeah, six of them.
All right.
Yeah, and you're talking about a number street, a 24th Street.
so you're looking at at least seven blocks away. I am also a board member of the Fairmount Civic
Association so I am also here in connection with that. Mr. Chair I would say that in her capacity
as a board member of the Fairmount Civic Association the board actually has a letter
from the Fairmount Civic Association which describes the meeting in which a majority
a supermajority of the individuals who attended that certified RCO meeting actually vote in
favor of this project great so do you have ma'am no disrespect but is there something that uh you
can add that was not uh already discussed i'm just yeah i'm just confused first of all as to what
this initial are you voting on it now because initially it was brought up as a continuance so
i'm not well this this is the continuance this is the continuance okay no my only my only concern
is just that I attended both the original meeting
and the second meeting held for the near neighbors.
And I'll let them speak for themselves,
but I did not hear that they were not against,
that they were completely against any development.
They were against this development,
not against all development.
Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we have Christine.
Christine, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Morning, ma'am.
Please identify yourself with the record, name and address, spell your name, and provide
us with your address.
Christine, unmute yourself, or we will move on.
Here we have Andrew Hart.
Andrew, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Good morning, Mr. Hart.
please identify yourself with the record, spell your name, and give us your address.
Good morning, Chair DiCicco. My name is Andrew Hart, A-N-D-R-E-W, last name H-A-R-T. My address
is 918 North 26th Street, which is within the 200-foot radius of the development.
Thank you. So we're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do so. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you. I attend the meeting today and I was at the meeting that was held on our block. I would like to note this on a few issues relating to zoning.
but first of all i would um just like to to clear the record um and i i thank uh the member of our
rco for her attendance today um i would i would disagree respectfully with council as to the uh
the nature and tenor of the meeting um since there are no meeting minutes that were submitted to us
uh of that meeting um i would say that my my block is in opposition to this development
Well, you have to speak for you, sir. Mr. Hart, you need to speak for myself.
And then I would like to raise objections to the variances. The variance that I'm an
objection to is the height. It is not in the nature and personality of the block or the
neighborhood. I object to the density. I object to the density on the grounds of the current zoning
and that this variance would increase the density unduly in our neighborhood. I object to the
issue of the parking because it is not part of the zoning. There is examples of projects that
have been built by Wright on our block and on Gerrard Avenue, and I would encourage the board
to support the zoning by right, and I would like to object to the, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
let me just go over my notes here, height, density, variances, and encourage the board
to support a by right development. Thank you. Thank you very much. Lastly, I would like to add
that we were unable to attend the RCO meeting, and several of my neighbors were unable to attend
RCO meeting because we did not receive notification of this this project and the ZBA variance
information has not been posted on the site so we were unaware that this was being considered.
I will leave it to my other neighbors to submit those exhibits that reflect that and to submit
I will leave it to my other neighbors to submit those exhibits that reflect that and to submit our petition in opposition to this development.
Thank you. Mr. Notkinson, how many units are on the top floor? I know you said it back. How many units are up there?
So, you know what, I would have to, is the architect on? Kevin, can you virtually raise your hand? I'm going to go through this.
let's see
the top one
Kevin can unmute
and wait to be sworn in
can you guys
yes Kevin
can you state your full name
and address for the record
yes Kevin Carrico
208 Paul Drive, Morristown, New Jersey
I don't think we got your full name
again, would you spell it, your last name
yes, Kevin Carrico
and my last name is spelled K-O-R-D-J-K-O.
And do you swear to the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
You heard my question, Mr. Kareko.
How many units are on the top floor?
Four total, and they're all set back far from the street.
We're at least 19 foot 7 on the one side
and 20 foot roughly on the other side.
So the reduction of nine units was all as a result of
removing the nine from the top floor, correct?
And then additionally, on the Bainbury side, we reduced a couple more units on that as well.
Yeah, so, yeah, Mr. Chair, so we were very mindful of the fact that 10% of this humongous lot, it's a huge lot, it's multiple lots, but a part of it was on the RSA 5 portion part.
So my client was very mindful of that.
That's why we dropped essentially two stories on the Bainbury Street side.
side so like we're very mindful of that and setting it back and one of the things that we
thought was actually a good part of this project is that they we would create eyes on the street
on the bainbury street side because the units on the first floor on the bainbury street side
it's almost like having single family because you have a direct entrance from bainbury from the
exterior so we're trying to create it so it would have a sense of community on the bainbury street
side respect the height by lowering it two stories all right i think i got that i just wanted to know
number of units on the top floor okay tanya we have kim you can unmute yourself and wait to be
sworn in hi there good morning uh ma'am please identify yourself with the record spell your
first and last name and provide us with your address yes my name is kim strow s-t-r-a-u-c-h
and I live at 914 North 26th Street.
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I agree with what my prior neighbor had said.
First, I just want to be clear that those of us who live,
myself included, a stone's throw away from where this project,
the proposed project is, did not receive any communication
for the first RCO meeting for this project. So we, myself included, I was scrambling to find out
about this, which is why we had this additional meeting a couple of weeks ago. I strongly feel
that there is not a hardship that could be articulated as to why this project should be
the height and density which is being proposed. This block is composed of two and three-story
row homes. Anything taller than that would just be out of place and sort of swallow the existing
makeup of the block. So I am in opposition to the proposed redesign of this project.
I just feel that there is no hardship that could be articulated. It is too dense and too tall for the current makeup of this block.
So, Mr. Charitas would like to respond. So, first of all, within our materials is the letter that we sent regarding the certified RCO meeting where we scheduled it.
And I believe that the letter was mailed at least 10 days before the actual meeting.
in terms of like where this property is located right now it's a one-story structure it's a it's
actually a warehouse for a roofing company so in terms of this is not a residential portion
of the neighborhood it's actually sandwiched in between two commercial corridors one is on
gerard avenue and the other one is on poplar street and in terms of the height actually if
you look at it there's a church which is on our side of the street which is you know pretty massive
pretty massive and you know what we tried to do was actually match the roof line so
and you know what we tried to do was actually match the roof line so
it's not simply a residential street and if you look on the back end on Bainbury Street
you'll see that our property backs up to a parking lot which is basically a gas station
so hold on a second oh I don't know where the picture is I'm trying to find a picture
um but yeah so this is yeah you'll see like here where we are there's a sunoco gas station
like i said i personally live a few blocks away so i'm very familiar with this part of the
neighborhood um so this is not a strict residential portion of the neighborhood
um in terms of what we're trying to do we're trying to create parking um where typically
people are actually for it. And what we're asking for is a reasonable increase in the density of
the amount of units to help actually support a commercial corridor on Girard and Poplar Street,
which during a certified RCO meeting, the community was in support of.
Thank you. Anyone else? Something new and different, please.
Here we have Cynthia. Cynthia, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
hello can you hear me morning good morning ma'am please identify yourself with the record first
and last name and provide us with your address and then i'll swear you in cynthia lombardi c-y-n-t-h-i-a
l-o-m-b-a-r-d-i i'm at 919 north bambray street that's philadelphia pa 19130
we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes yes i do please proceed okay um i beg to differ that the uh first rco meeting uh it was
the 60 of those votes were from the greater fairmount area it was not from the near neighbors
because the near neighbors were not notified of that meeting when there was the zoom meeting there
were only two owners on the block of Banbury. I am two houses up and on the other side of this
property. He is not backing up to the gas station. That's across the street from this, the back of
the property. And it is being dropped into a residential area on our side. So that's wrong.
there were no zoning signs posted on either side of the building at all to notify the neighbors
so I disagree there was not enough notice there was no clear explanation
and the notice that I got came after the meeting that was on the zoom call so I couldn't attend
that's why we asked for the second meeting where we met at the church and within a two block radius
there will be over 300 new apartments built and we just feel like this is just an an explosion
of population in this very residential area um we didn't feel that they followed the rules
as far as posting the zoning sign on both sides of the building and there were just not enough
of the near neighbors in that first meeting. What he's saying is there was a percentage of the
greater Fairmount area where those people are not even affected by this proposed development.
We were not in favor of the height and because it's just going to you know overpower all of the
residents here, we were not in favor of the density. It's just way too much for this area
and what's happening in the area. And there was clearly no hardship. I mean, to say that a
hardship is because you're getting more money because you're making more apartments is not